July 31st August 1 Intermission - Mission (Beach) to Melbourne

If you have been following the “This time we’re heading north” tour blog, then you know we had this trip planned from the start. Alex and Tess got engaged the previous weekend and Alex had let us know his intentions and dates before we left. We had flights booked from Cairns to Melbourne for a celebration weekend with them, Joel and Nikita, and Tess’ family Carolyn, Rowan and Dan. Dan’s partner was regretfully absent, but otherwise, it was a coming together of two families, from around Australia to celebrate a significant event.

Carolyn and Rowan stayed at our place, and were able to welcome us to our own apartment when we arrived around 3:30. As the bulldogs were playing Friday night, It was a great opportunity for me to watch the football with Joel, so he came over. As almost everyone was there anyway (other than Nikita who had a prior booking), Alex and Tess came too and the celebrations started early. Some nice takeaway, a great chat and some loud yelling at TV made for a special night.

The weekend was quite emotional as everyone is very happy for Alex and Tess to get engaged after being together for 8 years. Alex had put a lot of thought into the proposal and making sure the family could come together afterwards. He had booked a dinner on Saturday night at one of their favourite restaurants. With drinks back at theirs after dinner, and almost all of the immediate family there (Dan’s partner, Laney, had a longstanding arrangement with an international dancer in Mildura) – it was a great way to celebrate.

We found coming home such a surreal experience. The day before we were watching the sunrise at Mission Beach, that morning we were in Cairns, and in the evening, I am in my favourite chair with a house full of people having a bit of a party and watching the footy! It took us 3.5 weeks to drive over 4000ks to get to Cairns, but it took us 3.5 hours on a plane to come back and sleep in our own beds with a bathroom under the same roof.

On Sunday, Linda and I also got to spend some great time with Joel and Nikita catching up on their everchanging lives, which was also precious time for us. Linda and I managed to fit in a walk into town along the Yarra on a sunny weekend before getting on a plane on Sunday night to be back in our little van, with an ensuite next to us and our next adventures awaiting.

5 star weekend